There is so much to say about this book. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful--rich and vibrant, in the perfect shades--and the story is simple and complex at the same time. There are so many lessons here, like: you should word requests carefully so that you get exactly what you want; sometimes even when you get what you want it isn't quite what you expected; if you love someone, you should worry about his/her needs and desires as well as your own; taking care of someone else is a big responsibility. The whimsical details of a penguin's life with a boy all lend themselves to teaching these lessons. This is probably a great book for a kid who asks Santa for a pet every year, and it's also really entertaining for adults. The author could have made the story excessively sappy, but instead she gave it just the right amount of emotion--it's beautiful.